writing the words of dragons
by george's firework
Summary: Terry needs advice about a future studying dragons so who would he write to other than his good friend Charlie?


Charlie,

Hey, man, how're you doing? It's been a couple of weeks since the funeral and you haven't written so I figured I'd just send over a quick note to check up on how you were doing. I spoke to you at the funeral, but I never got my chance to give my condolences to your family. I'm truly sorry for your loss – I can sympathise with how you're feeling as I too lost a sibling in the war.

How is everyone else in the family dealing? I can't even begin to fathom the agony George is going through right now – the bond of a twin is like no other. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I wish he and Fred had been able to return to each other after the war – I can still remember the copious amounts of relief pouring from Padma as she embraced Parvati at the end of the battle.

But I don't want to dwell on memories in this letter so I figure I'll just talk about whatever pops into my head – as always. I hope you don't mind; perhaps my incessant babbling could distract you from your sorrows. And I just returned to the subject I was trying to get away from… this letter is going brilliantly already, don't you agree?

How're things going down in Romania? My cousin's asking about Eliza – how's the little dragon? I understand that you weren't affected much by the war in your area – did life just carry on as normal? You know, ever since the Triwizard Tournament I've been completely fascinated by dragons and I think it has something to with how interesting you told me they were when we met. The amount of knowledge you have about the majestic creatures is just astounding, as a Ravenclaw I have an unquenchable thirst for facts so all of your details were like little breaths of fresh air for me.

I can't believe I've never asked this before, but what made you want to get into the dragon business? It's so different from your father's job at the Ministry – although I suppose you're sort of following in Bill's footsteps in the exciting job aspect; being a curse-breaker sounds so dangerous, but also thrilling.

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my future yet, despite having the stereotypically organised nature of a Ravenclaw. I guess I was waiting to see if I would live through the war before I made any steady plans. Father wanted me to follow his footsteps into Magical Law Enforcement and for a while I considered it but eventually decided it wasn't me. I like being outside, in the open air, but without having to worry about catching a criminal or being on the wrong end of a curse.

Actually, recently I've been thinking a lot lately about coming abroad and looking into the whole dragon career… but I'm really not sure. I'd need some good advice on where to go and how to get started. Maybe you could give me a hand? What kind of grades would I need to get into a job like that? I'm assuming Care of Magical Creatures would be rather helpful – I took that to N.E.W.T level. Anyway, any advice would be very appreciated indeed.

I feel that I have dragged out the topic about careers and futures for long enough now. How're things going with that girl you mentioned last time? I hope she's forgiven you for accidentally setting her curtains on fire – remind me how you managed that again? Sounds like you're having more luck than me anyway; I think Padma is completely oblivious to flirting. Would it be completely terrible if, instead of chasing Padma, I turned my attentions to Parvati instead?

Wow… that makes me sound like a terrible person. I'm reading this letter back over and I've suddenly realised that people are not lying when they tell me I ask a lot of questions – it seems like every paragraph has at least three questions.

Anyway, I'll keep this letter nice and short so as to spare you the hassle of answering too many of my tireless questions.

Hoping you are well,

Terry.

Terry,

It's nice to hear from you and it's probably just as well you wrote – I've been holed up in my room since the funeral just wallowing in my own depression. Ever the drama queen.

I'll send your message over to the family – I'm sure they'll be grateful. And I am awfully sorry about your sister, she fought valiantly and it was a terrible loss. I sincerely hope you're slowly healing.

The rest of the family is… Coping… sort of. Mum bursts into tears whenever she sees, well, anyone but she's calmed down a bit lately according to Ginny's letters. Dad just doesn't talk much anymore and he spends a lot of time in the shed. Percy, Ron, and Ginny are are taking it pretty hard, but they're slowly recovering, and I haven't heard from Bill for a couple of weeks. George… George isn't coping, or healing, or getting over it. According to Ginny he just doesn't speak anymore and the few times she's heard him speak it's been in these half-sentences which aren't understandable because Fred isn't there to continue them anymore. Once she said she even heard him finish a sentence, but it was the second part and therefore didn't make sense. She's worried he's hallucinating and hearing Fred in his head.

As for me, I'm gradually coming to terms with it. My brother wouldn't have wanted us to live in grief for so long, but of course it's understandable to mourn, especially in George's case. Don't worry about dwelling on it – our letters are always pretty random.

It's alright out here – we've been having something of a heat wave so that's been nice but I miss everyone more than usual. It's pretty hard being apart from the family after… recent events and I'm constantly worrying something will happen to someone but I'm just paranoid.

Eliza can't really be referred to as 'little' anymore – she's bigger than my house. Of course, my house isn't really very big and it's more of a hovel but I'm working on it. She's bloody fast too, we have to keep a close eye on her when she gets going but her wings aren't quite strong enough to keep her going for long… yet. Tell your cousin she's in pretty good health, but her teeth are starting to develop their venom so that's pretty painful for her. You and your cousin should come down and visit her sometime, especially now that the war is over and it's safe to travel again.

You were right when you asked about the area here – we were barely affected at all. I guess it was because it was such a small, out of the way village that they just didn't bother. Besides, Voldemort was more focusing on Britain and finding Harry, I believe. Had he succeeded, he probably would have come to our little hamlet sooner or later. So, yes, life did just carry on as normal. The one point of excitement was when we considered bringing some dragons over to Britain to help guard Hogwarts for when the inevitable battle came, but eventually we decided it would be too difficult and wasteful to do something like that.

Well, you had me blushing with that little comment. I know a lot about dragons because, well, it's my job to know. I've been learning about them for as long as I can remember – I still haven't forgotten how Mum found me with a book about them one day and when I told her I wanted to be a dragon tamer (for lack of a better title) she fainted. I really don't know what it is about them that attracts me so but they're such majestic creatures that I've always admired them. And eventually, admiring them from a distance wasn't enough so I decided there was no point in not trying.

Well, Terry, you should get your act together – your future is tomorrow! I'm only kidding, I'm no Percy. Don't stress about it too much, I wasn't really sure until a year after I left school when I toured Europe with Tonks… and saw some dragons. Erm, sorry if you can't read that. Nymph and I were pretty close. Moving on.

I'm kind of like the twins… in the aspect that I'm more rebellious and easy-going. Sure, Bill's pretty laidback as well but then you compare me to the likes of Percy and, well, you can see what I'm getting at. I just wanted to break away from the family and do something completely unexpected and different – plus, I didn't want to be stuck behind a desk all day, I'm like you in the fact that I prefer to be outside. How Percy stands being stuck inside all day is beyond me.

Oh wow… I'm not the greatest at giving advice, that's Bill's strong suit, so bear with me and I'll give it a bash. Care of Magical Creatures is pretty essential and I've found that Ancient Runes can come in pretty handy at times – despite it being a subject more associated with curse-breaking. As for advice about how to get into this kind of career, it'd be better if you spoke to one of the higher figures of authority – I'll send you a name and an address.

We're onto love lives now? Hold on a second, what is a love life? Mine is non-existent as I write this. Amelie never did forgive me for setting the curtains on fire, especially after she noticed me "eyeing up" another girl in the market. As for the curtain thing, well, it was in a, ah, moment of… passion – to put it safely. Between us we aren't doing too well with the ladies, are we mate? Sounds like you need to be more obvious with Padma – and I've advise you to stick with her a little longer as she sounds like a nicer girl than her twin – or maybe just actually have a chat about how you're feeling. Ha, who am I kidding? Men like us would never do that, right?

Actually, now that I think about it, Luna sent an owl about a week ago saying she'd be in the area – maybe my love life is looking up. And yes, I know what you're thinking – Charlie Weasley and Luna Lovegood? Well get the thoughts out of your head, Luna and I have always been close. And I'm going to stop talking about it now because it's an awkward due to the small age difference…

And yes, you do ask a lot of questions but don't worry – I understand. Where would we be in life if we didn't ask questions?

Whoa… that was pretty deep, for me…

Write again, soon, mate.

Charlie.


End file.
